Requirements & Preparation

Before you install MoinMoin, make sure you have the necessary infrastructure in place, namely the Internet Information Services webserver (any version should be OK), and a Python installation (at least version 2.3 is required, the latest python release is recommended).

These instructions make the basic assumption that you will have these components installed in their default locations. In reality, you'll probably have them installed elsewhere (on the D: drive, for example). Be careful to substitute your drive and paths based on the following assumed default locations:

IIS to its default location

C:\Python - the Python interpreter

C:\Moin - MoinMoin itself

Installation

Installing IIS

Click 'Add/Remove Windows Components', Check 'Internet Information Services' and follow the on-screen instructions to install. ( it is also recommended to click the 'details' button and un-selecting components you will not need. This will depend on your server role; but for example, you probably will not need FTP, or "Frontpage 2000 Server Extensions").

Make sure that your webserver runs without problems before you start to install MoinMoin; problems with your webserver installation are not in the scope of this document.

Installing Python

There are currently two different distributions of Python available for Windows. Either version will work fine.

If you are or plan to develop in the Python language, ActivePython has some tools specific to the Windows operating system and includes a popular Windows IDE called Pythonwin.

MoinMoin works with either distribution, but requires Python release 2.3 or later. Download and install the distribution of your choice. Be sure your Python installation is correct before proceeding. Installation is straightforward; however, any questions or issues regarding the Python installation process should be resolved through the use of resources provided by Python.org or ActiveState.

"mywiki" is the name of your wiki instance, you might want to chose a different name best fitting the intended use of this instance; just don't name it simply "wiki", because that would result in confusion and problems later on.

We have to make sure that moin.cgi can find the MoinMoin directory, so that "import MoinMoin" will work. The easiest way to make sure MoinMoin can be imported is to append to sys.pathwithinmoin.cgi.

You can change the first two lines of code in moin.cgi to something like this:

Then add -u "%s" "%s" after the Python executable path. The Executable line will look something like this: "C:\Python22\python.exe" -u "%s" "%s". In the Extension box enter .cgi with the beginning period.

Make sure that the Check that file exists option is not checked (if it is, MoinMoin won't be able to display sub pages).

Ok, you're done with the alias configuration, click OK several times to get back out of all the dialog boxes.

If you add another wiki instance, you'll only need to setup the reference to its folder, they can safely share the "wiki" alias which points to static files only.

IIS 6.0 (Windows Server 2003)

The instructions below also apply to IIS 6.0 but the more aggressive security settings in newer version of IIS disallow the usage of unknown CGI extensions. That means you will always get a 404 error unless you do this:

For Extension name, give it a name such as .cgi or Python cgi or similar.

Under Required files click the Add... button and type in the exact command-line string you used above. Eg: c:\python24\python.exe -u "%s" "%s", then click the Ok button.

Make sure the Set extension status to Allowed checkbox is checked and click the Ok button.

Another change that may be necessary if you are receiving HTTP Error 403 19 1314 while using IIS 6.0 is to adjust the Identity settings for the Application Pool that is being used by your site. The following steps assume you are adjusting the Default Web Site.

Select the Application Pool you wish to adjust. (likely DefaultAppPool ) When you do this on the right you will see the Application pools for each site on the server. This will include a Description (likely Default Application ) and a Path (<Default Web Site>). In this way you can be certain you are adjusting the appropriate Application Pool.

With DefaultAppPool still selected right click and select Properties.

Select the Identity tab and with Predefined clicked use the drop down box to change the Identity to Local System instead of Network Service. Please be aware that this is a workaround since you SHOULD set your group settings to allow Network Service to access the cgi scripts.

Under Windows Server 2003, you will also need to give your IUSR_MACHINENAME account Modify access to the mywiki\data and mywiki\underlay sub-directories, as file system permissions are more restricted by default than previous Windows versions.

That is all, try to access your new-born wiki with the URL http://127.0.0.1/mywiki/. You should see the FrontPage, try to edit and save it, and if that works, see if your edit is reflected on the RecentChanges page.

Configuring wikiconfig.py

Finally, edit "wikiconfig.py" and at least change "sitename" and "logo_string" to some personal values:

NOTE: The configuration variable "url_prefix_static" in "wikiconfig.py" should match the alias for "C:\Moin\share\moin\htdocs" or themes will not work ("/wiki" for the instructions above). This way, any reference in "wikiconfig.py" to "/wiki/something" will look in the shared data directory and a reference to "/mywiki/something" will look in the wiki instance directory. These are considered absolute paths because relative paths will not work correctly.

It seems you need to change the Custom Errors setting for 404 before you can create new pages. You can accomplish this by performing the following steps:

Next, go to the Custom Errors tab and find the 404 entry, and click the Set to Default button.

Troubleshooting

If you see an error like "ImportError: No module named MoinMoin", it means that python cannot find MoinMoin. See above for how to add to sys.path.

If you see an error like Error 13: Permission Denied, it means that your web user permissions for the files do not have write/modify enabled.

If the page never loads after hitting Save Changes, you should check the permissions of the data directory. Make sure the IUSR_COMPUTERNAME user has modify permissions.

If some images like InterWiki and WorldWideWeb don't show up, it could have been because of incorrect permissions or a bad "url_prefix" in "wikiconfig.py" or the cached pages need to be updated by an Edit or deleting them in the data folder. Or you are using MS IE which has broken CSS :before support - try another browser.

and you don't intend on using a serverfarm, remove the farmconfig.py and farmconfig.pyc files and try again. The error message shouldn't appear when you refresh the page.

IIS URLScan problem

If you see an error like "The system cannot find the file specified." when trying to run Moin on IIS the problem may be URLScan. By default URLScan blocks any URLs that use PATH_INFO. To solve the problem, edit the URLScan.ini file in the %SystemRoot%\system32\inetsrv\urlscan\urlscan.ini directory. I changed the line allowdotinpath from 0 to 1. As follows

allowdotinpath=1 ; if 1, allow dots that are not file extensions

Also, you might have to add the following setting:

[options]
AllowHighBitCharacters=1

Next save the URLScan.ini and then restart the IIS service. Your wiki should now work.